Editorial: Ross Valley? rate hike will fix pipes

The Ross Valley Sanitary District has known for a long time that its sewer system is old and failing. Its recent history of sizable sewage spills is an unpleasant reminder.

In addition, the district has been slapped with costly fines by the state San Francisco Bay Water Regional Quality Control Board, the agency assigned to stem pollution.

Ross Valley is an easy target for the state board, which has ordered the agency to make diligent progress in fixing known leaks.

But years of political stumbles have stood in the way of the district cleaning up its act.

Last week's 4-1 vote approving a five-year rate increase is an important step in the right direction — toward upgrading sewer pipes to anti-pollution levels, which should be the goal of anyone who cares about the environment.

The new rates are designed to be raised by as much as 6 percent per year. Besides addressing the task of repairing broken pipes and seams, the rate increase also adjusts charges to reflect household or business water usage, which is a more accurate representation of use of the sewer system.

Ultimately, this is a big rate increase, but the test is implementing it in pieces to help ratepayers handle rising costs. It is a big rate increase for a big job — estimated to cost more than $60 million.

For years, district officials have been aware of the need to fix its aging and crumbling sewer lines.

Originally, the board had hoped sale of its Larkspur Landing property would generate enough revenue to cover a lot of the cost. But the sale went sour and ate up several million dollars in legal expenses. The district still owns the land and faces a multi-million-dollar task of cleaning up pollutants on the site. Ratepayers have urged the district to scale back possible development potential — and, likely, the property's value.

Meanwhile, the district went through a political overhaul; unnecessary political and legal battling with neighboring public agencies; a budget shortfall that required it to get a loan from the county; and the resignation and arrest of its general manager, who is in county jail awaiting trial for embezzlement of public funds.

District ratepayers are right to be frustrated over past boards' inaction or costly mistakes.

But that does not minimize the community's important responsibility to fix porous problems with its sewer system.

The state board has taken the district's political and legal mishaps into account and has been patient. Weather this year has been on the district's side as the dry winter has helped reduce the potential for spills.

But the state shouldn't be expected to look the other way when the district's own inspections have identified numerous problems with broken or long-missing pipes in 200 miles of underground lines, many of which are 50 to 100 years old.

The state is right to expect the district to forthrightly repair any possible sources of pollution.

The district has said that 90 percent of the revenue from the rate increase will go to fixing the pipes. It should.

The district also should make it a priority to provide ratepayers with regular progress reports on planning and construction.

It also is important that the board annually consider whether rates need to be raised to the maximum allowed level.

There appears to be a strong public consensus that increased rates are needed and an awareness of the importance of this public investment. The district's state-required property owner vote on the new rates generated 128 votes protesting the proposed increase.

That's less than 1 percent of the ballots mailed to eligible voters.

Director Pamela Meigs had supported the rate increase and balked at the last minute. But she said she was ultimately swayed by the public-health importance of the job.

"They've let us go for so long that we have to catch up. I can't keep denying capital improvements; it's a health issue," she said.

Meigs and the board's majority made the right decision, for ratepayers, public health and the environment.